Clown and Queen triggers
- Thread starter JohnniG
- Start date
DustyReefer
New member
People have mixed experiences with nigers, some people saying theyre model citizens others saying theyre a menace. Depends on the fish, but I'd choose the safer bet of one of the aforementioned fish. They tend to be less aggressive than most triggers.
alton
Well-known member
I grew a 1" Clown Trigger to a 6+" in a 200. He did not get along at that size and although he was reef safe his bio load was unbelievable and therefore did not work out. The only way was to keep him was with all softies which love pollution, but I got bored and sold him.
Wolverine
Premium Member
For a bluethroat, I wouldn't do it in anything under a 200g; even that would be really pushing it for me. I've done it in a 180 in the past, and felt that it was pretty cramped once they got bigger.
They are extremely unpredictable. Much harder than any of the other triggers I can think of. I've seen some that are the babies of the tank, getting pushed around by firefish. And I've seen others beat on anything that moves.
humaguy
Premium Member
reef-safe trigs include nigers, pinktails, blue throats, sargassum, red tails, and kiri (I beieve the Kiri is reef sare, not 100% sure)...but they are still trigs so nothing is set in stone and they could become pitas to anything in your tank... while they might not eat your corals they may treat them like toys and swim around the tank with them or turn them over......tony vargas published an article on reef safe trigs in aquarium mag in 09 i believe...mostly discussing the niger and pinktail... google that or get in contact with T...good luck...tk
Deinonych
New member
They need a lot of swimming space. I really wanted one for my 105G, but I had to resign myself to the fact that it simply wasn't big enough. Unfortunate, as I absolutely love triggers.
humaguy
Premium Member
all the trigs i mentioned tend to grow slow...the niger being the exception, he could surprise you...if you got a tiny specimen...like 1 inch you will be okay for about 1.5-2 years max...providing there are almost no other tankmates...you will have to put him in a bigger tank...good luck...tk
mastersonr
New member
Thanks huma guy. so it sounds like there are really no trigger options long term for a 150 correct? would like to work one in because i love their activity level and swimming patterns but i don't have plans for a bigger tank.
JohnniG
New member
They say they display this behaviour and then go nuts.
JohnniG
New member
Are you positive about the sargassum? Thats a beauty. Can i get a small sargassum trigger with a bluetail trigger in my reeftank with few clowns, a sail-fin tang and a bicolour emperor?
Just untill they reach a bigger size
I have had cleaner shrimp with queens, clowns, nigers, blue lines, pink tails, harlequin tusks...no problem with those triggers at all, but sometimes the tusk will pick the shrimp off after a couple of months. There are many pictures of shrimp with triggers from this site:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1050631&highlight=trigger+cleaner+shrimp
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1050631&highlight=trigger+cleaner+shrimp
Yeah danorth had a really nice tank.
I'm just worried that your typical reef tank won't have as much swimming space compared to a regular tank of the same dimension.
My experience with bluethroat triggers consist of one shy guy who pretty much grew half an inch to an inch in about 5 years (now he's about 4.5-5" from when I got him at about 4"). He eats anything but doesn't put on mass.
I don't know if you're intending on getting a giant blue throat on the get go, or attempting to get a trigger that is simply smaller in the first place. You might get away with one in your tank.
I'm just worried that your typical reef tank won't have as much swimming space compared to a regular tank of the same dimension.
My experience with bluethroat triggers consist of one shy guy who pretty much grew half an inch to an inch in about 5 years (now he's about 4.5-5" from when I got him at about 4"). He eats anything but doesn't put on mass.
I don't know if you're intending on getting a giant blue throat on the get go, or attempting to get a trigger that is simply smaller in the first place. You might get away with one in your tank.
Turbo snail
New member
Have you considered filefishes? Not all are as brightly colored, but there are several species that stay under 6 inches and have the same body shape and quirky personality of triggers.
Wolverine
Premium Member
In a big enough aquarium, yes, you can have both, but there is the potential for squabbling. Very often, closely related fishes don't play well together.
I'd recommend getting your reef up to where you want it before adding the triggers, especially if you want motile inverts. It won't take long for the triggers to figure out that most of what you put in the tank is food, so they're start sampling anything you add to the tank, even if you don't think they should be eating that coral you want to put in.
triggerfish1976
New member
Over the years I've basically kept every trigger that is considered "reef-safe" and a couple that aren't like a huge black durgeon and I wouldn't add one one again because of several factors.
In my earlier reef-keeping days I never took a long term approach to planning. I loved the look and idea of providing as natural of a habitat for my animals as possible and at the time fish were my the primary focus while corals and inverts was secondary. I would "experiment" with all of the iffy reef safe fish like Angels, butterflyfish, and of course triggers. This was over the course of about 10 years and I experienced some short term success with keeping these types of fish with various corals and inverts but I wouldn't consider any of these "successes" long term as I always found myself changing tanks, aquascaping, and inhabitants thus not allowing for any real assessment of long term behavior of my ecosystem.
A few obvious observations that I made with keeping triggers in my reef tanks were:
1. Triggers eat a lot and can cause bio-load problems. In a softy or LPS tank it may not be an issue but if you have an SPS dominated tank triggers can create a higher maintenance regiment in order to keep nutrient levels low enough for the corals to thrive.
2. My current definition of a reef tank is much different than it was a few years ago. Back then I figured that having coral made it a reef tank but now I view a true reef tank to be a more balanced ecosystem with corals, snails, crabs, worms, pretty much everything you would find on an actual reef that will work in a closed system like our aquariums. Having a trigger can keep you from achieving this type of setup as they will more than likely eat your snails, worms and crabs, and eventually may eat your shrimp. I also like to have smaller fish like gobies, blennies, dartfish, etc. in my reef tanks and keeping triggers will also more than likely cause problems as they may eat the smaller fish. One other thing that I observed is if you have any fish that are docile and timid like some Anthias, the presence of a trigger may add undo stress and these fish may stay in the rock work more and eat less.
3. Triggers can be destructive to coral and rocks. Many of the "reef-safe" triggers do not eat coral but they can and often do rasp on hard corals and live rock in order to keep their teeth worn down. The two big crosshatches that I had loved doing this. They also loved shooting water from their mouths into the sand looking for inverts to much on. Once they learned that the food came from the top of the tank they would shoot water out of the tank thinking food was going to appear.
4. Agressive - Triggers have big appetites and can be aggressive during feedings. Over the years, I lost a handful of fish due to being accidentally bitten by a trigger during feedings. I eventually started feed them separately with a turkey baster and would wait until they were full before I fed the rest of the tank. They are very smart fish and would put their mouth right up to the opening of the baster and sucked the food right up.
Triggers are amazing fish and have always been a favorite of mine but I no longer see the any real upside to keeping them in a reef, they limit your options too much over the long run.
In my earlier reef-keeping days I never took a long term approach to planning. I loved the look and idea of providing as natural of a habitat for my animals as possible and at the time fish were my the primary focus while corals and inverts was secondary. I would "experiment" with all of the iffy reef safe fish like Angels, butterflyfish, and of course triggers. This was over the course of about 10 years and I experienced some short term success with keeping these types of fish with various corals and inverts but I wouldn't consider any of these "successes" long term as I always found myself changing tanks, aquascaping, and inhabitants thus not allowing for any real assessment of long term behavior of my ecosystem.
A few obvious observations that I made with keeping triggers in my reef tanks were:
1. Triggers eat a lot and can cause bio-load problems. In a softy or LPS tank it may not be an issue but if you have an SPS dominated tank triggers can create a higher maintenance regiment in order to keep nutrient levels low enough for the corals to thrive.
2. My current definition of a reef tank is much different than it was a few years ago. Back then I figured that having coral made it a reef tank but now I view a true reef tank to be a more balanced ecosystem with corals, snails, crabs, worms, pretty much everything you would find on an actual reef that will work in a closed system like our aquariums. Having a trigger can keep you from achieving this type of setup as they will more than likely eat your snails, worms and crabs, and eventually may eat your shrimp. I also like to have smaller fish like gobies, blennies, dartfish, etc. in my reef tanks and keeping triggers will also more than likely cause problems as they may eat the smaller fish. One other thing that I observed is if you have any fish that are docile and timid like some Anthias, the presence of a trigger may add undo stress and these fish may stay in the rock work more and eat less.
3. Triggers can be destructive to coral and rocks. Many of the "reef-safe" triggers do not eat coral but they can and often do rasp on hard corals and live rock in order to keep their teeth worn down. The two big crosshatches that I had loved doing this. They also loved shooting water from their mouths into the sand looking for inverts to much on. Once they learned that the food came from the top of the tank they would shoot water out of the tank thinking food was going to appear.
4. Agressive - Triggers have big appetites and can be aggressive during feedings. Over the years, I lost a handful of fish due to being accidentally bitten by a trigger during feedings. I eventually started feed them separately with a turkey baster and would wait until they were full before I fed the rest of the tank. They are very smart fish and would put their mouth right up to the opening of the baster and sucked the food right up.
Triggers are amazing fish and have always been a favorite of mine but I no longer see the any real upside to keeping them in a reef, they limit your options too much over the long run.
